Abstract

Background: Acute poisoning is an important medical emergency and its pattern and outcome varies from place to place. Aims and
Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the spectrum of acute poisoning in a tertiary care hospital.
Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study of acute poisoning cases brought to emergency department of a tertiary care hospital from 1st January to 30th June 2015. Result: Total 256 cases of acute poisoning were recorded over a period of 6 months. Acute poisoning was common in men, and age group of 18–25 years was the most affected. The most common offending agent was agricultural pesticides (28.5%) and in this group mortality was maximum with aluminum phosphide (43.4%). The case fatality with unknown agents was reported to be (12.8%). Conclusion: From the results of this study, we conclude that acute poisoning is a common problem and male population is the most affected. Organophosphorousisacommonpoisoningandaluminumphosphideaccountedformajorityoffataloutcome.Theoutcome of this study underscores the importance of proper storage, distribution, sale and disposal of the pesticides, and advanced laboratory support.